Borders Announces Original Voices Awards Finalists.

Business Editors

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2003

Borders(R) Books & Music announced this year's finalists for the sixth annual Original Voices(R) Awards. The awards include books in the fiction, nonfiction, intermediate/young adult and children's categories. Each finalist is featured in the February issue of "Inside Borders," a free magazine distributed in Borders stores nationwide, and select finalists will make appearances in Borders stores throughout the next year. Winners in each of the four categories will be awarded a $5,000 prize from the company.

"Borders is the only major book retailer to award outstanding books written by authors in the young adult and children's categories," said Mike Spinozzi, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Borders Group, Inc. "We're proud to recognize all of this year's Original Voices finalists' contributions to literature. The books these authors have crafted test the limits of contemporary writing through their unique styles and voices."

Finalists for the awards are chosen by both corporate and store employees. A select group of Borders' corporate staff will read each finalist and choose the winners, to be announced in March. For more detailed information about the selected books, visit the "Inside Borders" Web site at http://www.bordersstores.com/ib/200302/ib_main.jsp.

Finalists for the 2002 Original Voices Awards are:

Fiction:

-- The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster (Henry Holt)

-- The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (Harcourt)

-- Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin)

-- The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Viking)

-- Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harcourt)

-- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown)

Nonfiction:

-- Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone

Before by Tony Horwitz (Henry Holt)

-- Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters by

Robert Gordon (Little, Brown)

-- Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by

Atul Gawande (Metropolitan)

-- Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by

Alexandra Fuller (Random House)

-- Hamlet's Dresser by Bob Smith (Scribner)

-- Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (Walker)

Children's Picture Books:

-- Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman

(Margaret McElderry)

-- David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon (Blue Sky)

-- Dear Mrs. LaRue by Mark Teague (Scholastic)

-- Duck on a Bike by David Shannon (Blue Sky)

-- Frida by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Ana Juan (Scholastic)

-- Mrs. Biddlebox by Linda Smith, illustrated by Marla Frazee

(HarperCollins)

-- The Snow Bear by Miriam Moss, illustrated by Maggie Kneen

(Dutton)

Intermediate/Young Adult Books:

-- Abarat by Clive Barker (HarperCollins)

-- Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking)

-- Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn (Simon & Schuster)

-- Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf)

-- St. Michael's Scales by Neil Connelly (Arthur A. Levine)

-- Summerland by Michael Chabon (Miramax)

-- This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (Viking)

-- Wenny Has Wings by Janet Lee Carey (Atheneum)

Throughout the year, Borders' Original Voices program features the works of more than 200 contemporary authors/illustrators from around the world in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, young adult and children's picture books. The monthly program highlights innovative and ambitious new books from new and emerging talents, as well as works that represent a new direction for established authors.

Borders Group, Inc., (NYSE:BGP) is a leading global retailer of books, music, video and other information and entertainment items with stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders Group employs 32,000 worldwide and operates over 400 Borders domestic superstores, 30 international Borders stores, 37 Books etc. locations and approximately 775 Waldenbooks stores. Teamed with Amazon.com, the company also offers online shopping through Borders.com (www.borders.com) and Waldenbooks.com (www.waldenbooks.com).

More detailed information for journalists is available at www.bgimediacenter.com. Financial data is hosted on www.bordersgroupinc.com and information on Borders stores is available through www.bordersstores.com.